Sarah Poynton (00:00.932)
Hey everyone, it's Sarah Boynton. Welcome back to the Money Mechanics podcast. I'm very excited to be hanging out with Sam Teale today. So Sam is a 23 year old award winning entrepreneur. His company is Sam Teale Productions. Sam, thank you so much for being here. Do want to tell these lovely people what you do?

Sam Teale (00:19.854)
Thank you very much for having me. It is a great honor. Yeah, like I said, my name's Sam. I'm 23. I started this business when I was 17. We're an award-winning video production company. We've got 11 staff now, two job adverts out, which is nuts for next year. So we're growing massively. We make the most emotional video content. I like to make people... I think the industry of video now is getting bit boring. People are making videos for... And not remembering or realizing the power that we have in our hands. So...

Yeah, we try and the most emotive stuff. And then the final part is that we've got a very young team, average age of 23. And I'm trying to give as many young people mad opportunities. And yeah, it's the best job in the world.

Sarah Poynton (00:58.166)
Amazing amazing. So this podcast is obviously all about money. So the first thing I'm gonna ask you is Can you think what your earliest money memory is?

Sam Teale (01:08.428)
Yeah, so I had this conversation last night with my dad, be fair. I don't know if my dad don't mind saying it, he won't. My dad is very much kind of...

What's the word? Sensitive about money, if that makes sense. My first memory actually was, first big memory was two memories actually. I remember being young and coming out of Morrison's actually and my mum and dad being worried about the washing machine being broken trying to afford a new one. And I don't remember exactly how I felt, but I knew it didn't feel nice. was like money's like this weird thing in our family that causes quite a few arguments and you can feel the power of it. But then...

Sarah Poynton (01:21.508)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (01:42.382)
The result of that was the next day I was in the car with my mum and my auntie, it was coming back from, I think it was like a dog show or something. And I was maybe nine or 10 at the time and I had a phone and my phone rang and my dad's like, Sam, where are you? I'm like, I'm in the car with mum, why haven't you rang mum? He's like, how far away are you? I'm like, five minutes, whatever. Got back home.

We all get out of the car, walk towards the house. My dad sat on the step of my house. I'm like, what's happening here? Anyway, we walked towards the house. He walks towards my mom. And then she starts screaming. And they won like a hundred thousand pounds on the lottery, which is crazy. So it was like, but what was nuts about that was it was I literally relate those two things happening side by sides, literally days apart. They're worrying about money and then them somehow winning money on the lucky day, which I got none of, by the way, just when I say the business is not a result of them winning the lottery. But.

Sarah Poynton (02:26.102)
hahahaha

Sam Teale (02:29.356)
Yeah, that's my least memory I would say.

Sarah Poynton (02:32.076)
Amazing. How do you think that that memory has carved out your relationship with money over time?

Sam Teale (02:38.382)
I think that memory, well, the first bit of that memory is I've been worried about money. I'd never want that. And it's not, I don't have a business to make money. It's a sub product of it. And it's not like I started this to be rich and I'm not rich. Point that I'm trying to say is I know that I do not want money to be something for me to worry about, something for my family to have to worry about.

like they did in that Morrison's trip, if that makes sense. And also, second part is I don't want to have to be reliant on, and this sounds really negative and I don't mean it to be, but I don't have to be reliant on someone else or like, yeah, I want to be like self-made, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Sarah Poynton (03:08.142)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (03:15.94)
Mm-hmm.

So you want to be in control of your own money and your own financial destiny, I suppose. And you want to not have to worry about having enough of it that if the washing machine goes that you can't afford to fix it. Yeah.

Sam Teale (03:31.349)
Exactly. I remember one key memory actually was when I was a kid actually my cousin my older cousin took me to the shop and she was like pick a sweet and I picked one and went get another one and I couldn't believe that I was allowed more than one sweet in the shop and I was like my god and I picked another one up she's like get another one I was like I couldn't compute that I could buy more than one pack of sweets at the shop but again that reiterates the same fact I want to be like that I want to give

Sarah Poynton (03:55.918)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (03:57.711)
I want to be able to go into a shop and not look at the price and buy three packs of sweets if I want.

Sarah Poynton (04:00.513)
not worry about the price. So you, when you say then like, you're not worried about being rich, like rich is not a thing that you connect with. Like you have your business, you do your business because you love what you do. Money is a consequence of it. Do you think that you, so when you use the term rich, like what do you mean when you say I'm not really worried about being rich? What do you define that as? Because in my brain,

Being rich is not being able to, not having to look at prices. So yours is obviously different because you don't want to be rich, but you want to not have to look at prices. So define what you mean by rich.

Sam Teale (04:39.438)
Guess rich means I in my head retired. You've got too much money that type of vibe. I'd love to get that one day Too much. Yeah, and I guess where I want to be at is Maybe your definition of rich. I want to not have to worry about prices. I want to be a buy what I want travel where I want and but then also provide for Like the team that have here for like my family I got to buy my sister a car when she turned 17 and that that was amazing. I am

Sarah Poynton (04:47.053)
Too much, that's interesting.

Sam Teale (05:10.222)
I did a thing the other day with a team where we had like a 500 pound holiday voucher. I love that type of thing and we've got, I've just booked a trip for the whole team next year to go to Portugal for a few days as well because I just, I love being able to do that. So point I'm trying to make is my definition of rich is like more like maybe like Elon Musk, if that makes sense. Whereas, yeah, that's what jumps to mind in the first instance of rich, but I would like to live.

Sarah Poynton (05:31.075)
You mean the richest man that there is.

Sam Teale (05:40.066)
I think that's what the definition of rich in my head is. You're not working, you've got loads of money. That's what I think rich means to me. And I will never not be at work.

Sarah Poynton (05:45.74)
Interesting. So you're being in a financial position where you've got enough, whether you get up and go to work that day or not, you can still afford everything. You could take time off. can provide for your team, for your family, for your kids, parents, whatever it is that for you, it's that kind of position of, I suppose, financially being free in that you can have anything that you want, whether you get up and go to work or not. Okay, cool. Do you think that

Sam Teale (06:09.26)
Yeah, yeah, that's, Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (06:15.709)
everybody should want to be rich, wealthy enough that they have that in their life.

Sam Teale (06:22.798)
that's a great question. Yes, but with a little asterisk next to it because I feel like it's... I think, yeah. So I think, yeah, I think everyone can want that, but then there's got to be looking at situations and every individual person's kind of circumstance, if that makes sense. I am...

Sarah Poynton (06:28.781)
Go on.

Sarah Poynton (06:47.043)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (06:49.678)
Yeah, that's how I'd say that. I think it is nice for everyone to think about, but I also don't believe everyone should believe it if maybe they're not able to do that and then it becomes a bit of a reason for them to be unhappy. Do know what I'm trying to say? I it's kind of living... I think everyone can live a life where they can live of financial freedom, can have financial freedom. It goes back to everything that I talk about in relation to believing in yourself massively and not giving up. And if you do that consistently...

Sarah Poynton (07:00.963)
Yeah, yeah that makes sense

Sarah Poynton (07:16.269)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (07:18.722)
the subproduct of that will be not having to worry about money. But people cannot do that for a multitude of reasons and then I don't want to be like, everyone should be in this way because it's not possible for everybody else.

Sarah Poynton (07:21.527)
money. Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (07:28.771)
Yeah, that's fair. So let's talk a little bit. And again, you know, we had this conversation when we were in London, I don't like to bring up your age a lot, because I think sometimes you're a young entrepreneur. And actually, I just think you're really fucking great businessman. And I think you've done incredibly well. You just happened to done it when you're younger. As a young person in business, do you think that your approach to money is different?

Sam Teale (07:43.694)
Thank you.

Sarah Poynton (07:55.65)
to let's say someone does something similar to you but who is in their 50s. Do you think you approach to it, your attitude to money in business is different?

Sam Teale (08:03.564)
Yeah, I think maybe I'm more, I maybe take more risks and I don't really think about the numbers that much, which is a positive and a negative. I think the growth that we've had this past year and the opportunities that we've been at have has been down to that fact. And to be fair, looking back at my journey, like my first hire was totally done on vibes. Like I didn't know if we could afford them. was like, yeah, my gut feels like we can hire now. And likewise, that was my second and third and fourth hire until I hired a BD, so I had Gemma.

Sarah Poynton (08:18.371)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (08:32.686)
like at the start of the year and then we started looking at profit and loss and properly working out like what we can and what we can't afford and kind of forecasting that stuff. Yeah, so I because I also believe in money is everything, but also it's not also not everything. I think it's there's a lot of, again, nuances in relations to the feelings that have for people and whether like, like I remember there was one of the guys that I hired that I knew I couldn't afford, but I absolutely knew the value that it would add. And I was

Sarah Poynton (08:47.701)
It's also nothing, yeah.

Sam Teale (09:03.34)
Yeah, so it was kind of like I told him to hold his horses a little bit. I was like, relax, give me a month. And then he came in and that was the best decision I've ever made. And someone else who was older than me, who maybe cared more about money wouldn't even have allowed themselves to have that conversation, get themselves excited. But therefore the payoff we've had right now in the future is massive. yeah, I think that's one of the big things. yeah, and then the cheekiness as well.

Sarah Poynton (09:15.299)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (09:25.133)
So that's, do you genuinely think that's just because at the moment at 23 years old versus someone who's in their 50s, you on paper, again, I don't think this is accurately a factual sentence, but on paper, you've got less to lose than someone like that, because actually you're young and you know what, if you had to go back to the start, you've still got loads of time and you still know what you know, right? It allows you to take a bit more of a risk on the things that you're doing.

Sam Teale (09:37.378)
Yeah, yeah, 100%.

Sam Teale (09:45.89)
Yeah, yeah.

Sam Teale (09:49.935)
100 % and I think that lesson then for any young person I think always should be like have a go now while you can. I think hopefully, touch wood, we're in a good place and I won't have to go back to zero. But that's always a possibility. But like you talk about when I first started, I started making videos when I was like 17 still at school and then therefore my problem, yeah, there was no risk there. I was still at home. I'm still at home now to be fair. And then.

Sarah Poynton (09:57.517)
Mmm.

Sam Teale (10:18.88)
It got a little bit busier as you have that gap between year 11 and between college where you have six, seven weeks off and start getting busier. And then it was a case of, I'm not going to go to college because I feel like I've got a big enough opportunity here. And so there was baby little steps, but knowing that the support I have underneath me was, as you say, very decent. But then I also do believe as well that you'll notice that a lot of people limit themselves or label themselves as people that can't.

get out of their current situation and therefore use that as a reason not to start a business or take a risk. I was at school the other day, I did a talk and I was speaking to one of the teachers and they're like, oh, if I weren't a teacher, the one thing I'd love to do is set design. I was like, why don't you do it then? Why don't you do it? And she's like, oh yeah, but I'm a teacher now. I'm like, yeah, you are a teacher now, but you don't have to be a teacher this time next year. And also if you went on some sets on a weekend or if there's a way that you can dip your toe into the industry.

Sarah Poynton (11:03.33)
No.

Sarah Poynton (11:12.194)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (11:12.258)
and then kind of transition like that, but a lot of people are too scared of that first step.

Sarah Poynton (11:16.738)
That's so interesting. So like we talk to clients all the time and we say, you know, lots of people say to me, I wish I could be an investor. I say, well, why don't you do it? And they're like, well, you know, because I'm not there yet and I need to wait until my business is making more money or until I get this point in my career, or I need to wait till the kids have left home. There's always a reason why they can't do it. And I think to myself, that doesn't make any sense because you can become an investor with 10 quid.

Like you can buy a share in a company for like 10 quid, three pound 50. Like you don't need a lot of money. You can, you're then you move from being not an investor to an investor. All right. You're not an investor that's living on their investments yet, but you never get to that point until you've bought your first share, till you've bought your first house, bought your first things. Right. So that whole just take one step towards the outcome that you're looking for is such good advice. And for somebody who's 23 Sam, you know, you are.

I find you just inspiring. It's amazing. It's your attitude to stuff. You mentioned school. So let's talk a little bit about school. You went from school to college to your business, right? Okay. So school up until year 11 then, probably more recently than any other guest we've ever had on the podcast, right? What is school currently doing? Do you think to prepare?

Sam Teale (12:17.07)
Thank you.

Sam Teale (12:23.724)
Nah, I skipped college. Skipped college. Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (12:41.708)
kids for the journey of personal finance. Anything? Or is there something?

Sam Teale (12:47.286)
No, no, no, my case, nothing at all. So year nine or year 10 when you choose your options, I didn't have a clue what wanted to do. So I think I chose computer science, IT, which is basically the same thing, and then business. And I thought business might teach me some bits that are interesting. There's not one thing I think that I learned in that two year period studying business that I use now, owning a business, which is crazy.

Here's what profit is. Here's what gross net profit is that type of thing, which yeah, that's important. But yeah, the bits that would have actually been important would have been, as you mentioned earlier about how simple it is to invest and that we should now start at my age as early as possible by even just like you said, a few pounds just whack it every month into the S &P 500 or something just so it can start building up in the background. But we're not taught that. Instead, we taught, yeah, how to how to just get a job and write a CV, which

is crazy and I think...

Looking at like my journey then from school to a business I was speaking to teachers and stuff and this is not a this is not a school issue It's more societal issue But I remember speaking to my IT teacher and he said what you're doing after school and I was like I'm gonna start a production company and he was like No, you're not like you can't do that. You gotta go college and then I went to my careers advisor and I was like I do not think I want to go to college because I think this is happening in the background and I want to put my all into it I've got to take a risk. She's like well take a place at college and then just don't go I'm like well, but then that's taking someone else's place

There's no perfect outcome in the way that school meets business. And yeah, it's even like little bits. Like when I started the business, was all, I was on a call in lockdown. So I got myself invited to a BNI call. There was an accountant on there called Sarah. And I asked for a one-to-one afterwards, plucked up the courage for a one-to-one. And I just said, how do you start a business? And she guided me through companies made simple online. And I founded the business that day. And then it's been slowly picking up like lessons, like...

Sam Teale (14:47.906)
Speaking of someone who's like do you charge profit on your job? So I'm like profit on my jobs actually no I don't and it's like all right Okay, let's let's price in this particular way and then it's been and it's like I don't Corporation tax comes in the bill comes in and it's like it's coming out the current account and then I can't it's like why do you have a separate part? I'm like, my god, that's like an incredible shout and then same with VAT and that's type of thing It's been a gradual kind of progression as I've learned along the way and made mistakes. Whereas that could have all have been kind of lessons

with a case study that had been really helpful during school, but that's just not happened. And then it's even little bits like when I school, I got a message from someone at school and it was like, can I invest in your company? And it was like when it was just me, it was like early days. It's like that issue then of people not knowing company structures and then how that all works. it's sad to be fair because I think there's a lot of entrepreneurial kids out there, but unless you've got the...

Sarah Poynton (15:20.076)
Yeah.

Sam Teale (15:43.981)
It's all about role models I go back to and my role models thankfully were like YouTubers that had businesses and that's literally how I what I wanted to be then and if young people don't have that then them knowing how to get from there to be is quite difficult unless they're confident enough to ask loads of questions but then also to get in those rooms and speak to the right people I was very lucky that the people I took advice from were decent but then I had this accountant that helped me set up the business I'm still with her now Sarah she's fantastic did all that she sent me a prices over to like be my accountant and it was like far too much and my dad's like

Sarah Poynton (15:45.879)
you

Sarah Poynton (15:51.788)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (16:01.537)
Mmm.

Sam Teale (16:13.098)
No, you're not paying that, that's far too much. Here's my mate, or someone that he uses. And then I just didn't understand any of the numbers. I felt really scared when he talked to me. I kind of got nervous every time he came to the office. And then I move over to my new account and it's like, he's done me numbers wrong. And it's made out that I've taken like, I've been an employee in my own business when I've not even had PAYE set up and it's all that. then my new account, I to read all my old numbers. It was all that stress of even more. It's nuts.

Sarah Poynton (16:37.185)
Mm-hmm.

This is such an important lesson, right? And this doesn't just go for entrepreneurs. So there's a lot of people that listen to this who've got jobs or are retired or whatever. And there's lots of people who are entrepreneurial as well. Lots of people who are investors. My grandmother taught me, and I think it's the same thing you're saying is get the best advice you can afford at the time from the best, most qualified person that you can get it from. Because when you go cheap,

when you go like with your mates, mates, uncles, dogs, brothers, cousin, who happens to know how to do a bit of bookkeeping, what actually ends up happening is you end up paying more money in the long run, because you have to fix the mistakes and it costs you more in tax and all of that sort of stuff.

Sam Teale (17:19.34)
And that literally, that was like the buy cheap buy twice. I've heard that many times, but that was the first time when I was like, my God. Like I was taken for a bit of a ride because I was young, because I didn't know what I was, I didn't know the questions to ask. And also I didn't feel that I were able to ask questions. Whereas now where I am now, I've got a great account and I can ring them with the maddest of questions. And I know she'll never judge me. And I bloody love that because that gives me a little bit of freedom with yeah, the stupid questions.

Sarah Poynton (17:30.123)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (17:33.697)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (17:40.019)
Yeah, that's great. So do you think people treat you differently when it comes to money in your business? So whether it's your accounts, whether it's your tax, whether it's, you know, your proposals going out for new clients, the value that you guys bring to the table? Do you think people treat you differently because of your age?

Sam Teale (17:58.287)
Sometimes, sometimes, but then I also think confidence plays a part in that. So when I was younger, I remember invoicing my first thousand and I was so nervous. like Stephanie, who was one of my first coaches, kind of was like, this is the price of what it is that you need to do, like go do it. And then I slowly started getting more and more confident. then I think now it's more of like Lydia in the team. She's our account manager and she sends all the proposals out. She's...

Sarah Poynton (18:04.011)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (18:27.342)
a little bit younger than me. And her opinion on, we'll do a quote and I'll be like, it's too much. And I'm saying that because I've had a sales call. I don't actually know what the budget is of the client in these cases. I'm like, it's too much. She's like, no, it's not. That is what we're going to charge. And what I mean by that is I think...

Sarah Poynton (18:39.861)
Yeah, yeah.

Sam Teale (18:46.606)
with how the confidence she has with the prices she puts together, there's no stopping her. And therefore, when you get an email or when you talk to her on the phone, she's very confident in what she's given out. I think when I was younger, I weren't confident and that was maybe an issue. But I do think there is a few clients that maybe are a little bit like, you're only a kid, why are you charging me this? But it's a case of, again, it goes back to the value that we had and the end product. Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (18:56.321)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (19:09.601)
And I think, I think a bang on confidence plays a huge role in the way that we behave around money. I wrote about this in the book, like the way we have grown up around money, the way that we've experienced money, whether it's from an investment perspective or spending it or losing it or overpaying for stuff or whatever, our own relationship with money and the confidence that sits with that is such a big indicator in the way that we'll perform with money in our life in the long run.

So do you have any bad money habits?

Sam Teale (19:43.129)
I have many, I had this same conversation yesterday with Alfred, one of our new starters. was on about, at college he used to get like a Greggs three times a day. And I was like the first step of changing anything, he's been aware of it. And then if you do nothing about it, at least you're aware, like you can make yourself feel better. I should like prep my food. A night before I like to save me loads of money in meal deals, but I like having a walk to Tesco's and saying hello to the cashier.

It's like those little bits that is the walk to the fridge. Is it worth the two pounds I'll save? I don't know. And then I love a Nando's. Maybe too much. Maybe I have too many Nando's. Yeah, and then.

Sarah Poynton (20:29.184)
mean, eating out is not necessarily a bad money habit if you can afford it, right?

Sam Teale (20:33.472)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true, but also I could have more money if I didn't, if that makes sense.

Sarah Poynton (20:38.11)
Well, you could, but also there's a layer of you need to live your life, right? If again, it's all, it's all to do with goals. If your goal is to have as much money as physically possible, then you want to put a squirrel all away. If actually you want to live your life a little bit and have a bit to put away and a bit to keep, then there's a balance to be had, I think.

Sam Teale (20:42.582)
Which is exactly my opinion.

Sam Teale (20:57.294)
Yeah, yeah. I think the way that I square it in my head is like my wage, if you like, is all disposable. None of that goes into savings. That's all money that I want to spend that month. But then there'll be a separate bit that I take, which is just for savings and that won't be touched. That's like ring fenced in a few different accounts. So I am careful in that respect as well, if that makes sense. But again, it's all about the lens that you brought up in.

And like you said about the early kind of bits with money, there's a lot of stuff that I do that in my parents eyes, maybe like why are you money on that? But in my eyes, it's similar to what you've just said. Like I work hard, so this is what I want to do. Yeah, I think the thing now that I think, well, dangerous, that I haven't got into, but I think would be good to talk about is credit and how dangerous that is for young people now and how easy it is. think my, was so shocked the other day when one of my pals got something on him.

Sarah Poynton (21:34.068)
Yeah, yeah.

Sam Teale (21:53.109)
or whatever, but it's like it comes up as an Apple Pay card. And it's like, my whole thing is when we work with charities or we work with anyone who needs donations is like, how can you reduce the friction between someone watching a video and therefore feeling moved and then wanting to donate money to you? Like, I don't want to watch a video, feel sad and then click a link to then put my billing details in. I can't be bothered with that. But if I click a link, takes me to Apple Pay, I'm laughing. Point that I'm trying to make is, if you're going to buy something on ASOS and you've got a party tomorrow and you click pay and you've not even thought about the fact that you want to credit it and it's just there as an option, it's one click.

Sarah Poynton (21:54.304)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Sam Teale (22:23.231)
That is so scary. And I think then the side bit of that as well is subscriptions. As a young person, how easy it is to set up a subscription and then forget about it is crazy as well. that's not that I have massive issues with those two things. I said I've never used Kleiner or anything like that. I don't want to risk it. But what is interesting is as a society of people around my age, that is something I do see as a big issue. But then...

Sarah Poynton (22:24.96)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (22:51.056)
Mmm, it is.

Sam Teale (22:51.063)
Secondly to that is how easy it is now to just generally spend money on rubbish is crazy as well.

Sarah Poynton (22:55.136)
I think on the credit cards and credit generally, you're right, things like Klarna, anywhere where you're splitting payments, what people don't necessarily think about is they think, it's 20 quid a month for three months, but they forget that they've already got 10 different monthly things that they're paying for three months, six months, whatever. And it's that over, it's the cash flow, like,

Sam Teale (23:23.332)
Mm.

Sarah Poynton (23:23.52)
going the wrong way that becomes the biggest problem. So like for me, I got into 60,000 pound of credit card debt and it was all right because it was all on zero percent. So it wasn't costing me anything until my zero percent ended. And then I was like, shit, I can't afford this. I don't know how to afford it. I don't know what to do with it. that I think interestingly, like that was 10 years ago, access to credit.

is targeting young people. I see, you know, I'm in my forties and I see, you know, I was in JD Sports the other day buying some trainers to come away with and like all over the tills, it's like pay with Klarna, pay with Klarna. And I get it, Klarna is a business and I get it, you know, it means that you get the sale in the shop and JD Sports is probably selling more trainers because people can split the payments. But from a society perspective, from a duty of care perspective, is it the right thing? I'm not convinced that

Sam Teale (24:06.575)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Poynton (24:18.204)
It is because

Sam Teale (24:18.839)
Yeah, and I think the education side of it, which you've mentioned there, like mentioning cash flow for personal finances and stuff, I don't think people, if they're employed and they're not in like a financial position when it comes to work and stuff, they might not know what cash flow means or how, like you've just said there, the impact of kind of piling up, might only be like a small amount momentarily, but that added on to everything else is stressful. But it's like the lack of education is an issue and also, but then...

Sarah Poynton (24:30.912)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (24:48.525)
Yeah, it's like the dangers and what is possible now with these is crazy. they're not this flip side of it, which I think is nuts of all of this is took me ages to get my first credit card. I think my my credit score is absolutely rubbish because I don't like buying stuff on credit and I avoid it. And. So then that's a whole other interesting part is like you have one side of people that are just doing it all day and then the other side of people that haven't that don't do it because it's scary.

Sarah Poynton (25:10.752)
Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (25:16.32)
That's because people that are cautious with their money, you're not the client that the banks want really. The banks want people who are reckless with their money because when you do not manage your money well and you get into lots of debt, they make more money, right? So, which is why they throw money at young people. So like when I turned 18, I had credit card offers, I had all these different things. And actually I hadn't had any sort of financial education at all to really tell me what I should and shouldn't do.

Sam Teale (25:23.279)
Mmm.

Sam Teale (25:31.681)
when they win.

Sam Teale (25:44.078)
Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (25:46.144)
I'd left home by then so was on my own making these financial decisions. Like I left home at 17 before I was even allowed a credit card. And, you know, all of a sudden I'm like, oh yeah, I'll have all this money. I've got a student loan around the same sort of time. I was going to university, I was going out a lot, drinking a lot, partying a lot. And I just put it all on plastic all the time. And then it, that's not helpful. No one ever sat me down and said, actually, you have to pay this money back at some point. I was like, oh, this is just free money in my mind at the time. And

Sam Teale (26:13.934)
Mm.

Sarah Poynton (26:15.423)
I think it's a real shame that we've got a whole, you know, like probably two generations of people who are going into like young adulthood in so much debt because of things like carna. And then you get to the point where you're like, well, I want to save up for a house or I want to start renting or I want to leave home or I want to have a family or I want to get married or whatever. And that then becomes, you know, you need big money for all of those things.

people are already stuck and tied into the debt because that's the first thing that came along. It then keeps them a bit stuck, right? So, and again, you must see this in your friend group, I'm assuming, not so much you, but you must see it.

Sam Teale (26:55.183)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. that's scary, I think. That's the other part about you've got to really start. This is what was blew my mind. Speaking to my accountant a few years ago, she's like, and it sounds simple, but it blew my mind. It's like, you've got to start thinking about buying a house now. And I was like, in my head, that's crazy. That's an adult decision you make when like you want to buy a house. And in my head, it's a decision you would make at what? 26, 27, I want to buy a house now, bang. But with how hard it is to...

get a mortgage and get house and the money that you need for all that. Like I understand why it is a case of like, like finding about that early, but I'm quite fortunate that I've started thinking about that earlier. Whereas the way you talked about there about friends and stuff is all people that not necessarily my friends, but people that I do know of that are in that position that you mentioned of being quite.

happy and relied on credit, the switch up they would have to make to then start thinking about a house is massive. then you look at the stories you hear about people, taking people years and years and years to kind of get out of the parents house and get a house. It doesn't help with that problem. It's crazy.

Sarah Poynton (28:01.319)
No, it definitely doesn't. And it's a real shame, I think, because actually there's some really small things you can do that financially set you up like really, really well. it is things like you just adjust the way you're spending. And I'm not saying never have a Nando's ever again. But even if you took like, if you had 10 Nando's a month, just for argument's sake, if instead you had six and had four Nando's where you put into the S &P or you put into dividend stocks or something like that.

for the next 10 years, actually that would compound at such a rate that you'd probably save up a deposit for a house because the compounded interest on top of it would be the bit that would make the difference. And again, I compound interest is something that everybody should be taught about. But they're not, suppose. Do you know what compound interest is? I'm curious to know. Yeah.

Sam Teale (28:51.512)
Yes, yeah, that was one thing actually that I think I learned at school actually was, yeah, that was something that as soon as it was actually it was a podcast episode about that sat down with.

somebody I can't remember who it was but they started speaking about investing and about Hargreaves lands down and they actually explained like Get Hargreaves lands down invest money here set up a direct debit whatever and that was so helpful because it was almost like Handholding it weren't behind a paywall or it weren't it was a conversation that almost ended up talking about this thing that he didn't feel like they were selling anything and the work we're in out of it It was just information. I love that. So yeah, that's what but but but

Again, I have so many conversations with people, my pals, I'm like, why don't you want your money in this and P500 or whatever. And they're like, what's that? Or they don't understand what compound interest is or they feel like it's almost a scam because it feels too good to be true. that's, yeah.

Sarah Poynton (29:40.618)
Too good to be true. So I was talking to a friend of mine not that long ago, and we were talking about how the marketing around the messaging around bank savings accounts versus the messaging and the way that society understands investment. Right. So we've, as a society, not us, but generally the general masses have been convinced that putting your money in a savings account with

a small interest with the bank is the safest place for your money. That's what everyone says. It's the safest place. And the investing, even though there's an opportunity that it might go up, is really high risk. That's what we've been led to believe, right? But the reality of this is that money set in a savings account is guaranteed to lose value. It's guaranteed to lose value because of inflation. So

It doesn't matter how much money you've got sat in a savings account. It doesn't matter what your interest rate is. The interest rate will be less than what inflation is unless something wild happens differently in the next few years. But actually that is the fact. Your money will lose value over time versus, okay, it might go down in value, but it might go up. It quite often goes up. We've been convinced that a guaranteed loss is better than a potential gain.

Don't understand how they've done that.

Sam Teale (31:07.394)
Yeah, well, well, it's if it was to go really deep, it doesn't benefit the banks or your bank if you were to take the money elsewhere, potentially. Another bit, I think it's an easy sell. the fact it's the fact it can be worded as risky or there's a lot of stories of people that have done it wrong and ended up like like it. Yeah, yeah. But that's the bits you hear about. You don't hear about

Sarah Poynton (31:31.359)
Yeah, with losses.

Sam Teale (31:37.253)
the fact you should split it into a few little bits, or the fact that there is safer areas for your money when it comes to investment as opposed to, and like almost the risk of, the choice of risk is yours. It depends how much you can afford to lose this money or how much you could gain out of something. But again, it always goes back to education. think that's the scary part. There's not.

Sarah Poynton (31:45.043)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (32:01.402)
There's not a sexy way of learning about this type of stuff that sets you up to win, that is then marketed to the people it needs to be seen by. And that's the issue. But the people that will win out of that will be the end user and not the people that don't want you to win. And that's the issue why it doesn't happen. And that's sad.

Sarah Poynton (32:20.586)
Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about financial ambitions, right? So you're a very successful businessman, you're 23 now. Have you got in the future, like 10, 15, 20 years from now, and you're like my age and old, where do you see your financial ambitions? Like, do you drive yourself towards financial targets at all? Or do you purely just look around like production, creativity and impact?

Sam Teale (32:46.864)
We've started to really think about this year about financial targets and stuff, which should be very helpful. I'm more more driven about, we have it written on the whiteboard in the office on my revenue and that I'm really in that kind of...

The whole team is aware of the power of us hitting these numbers and what that will achieve. I wanna break a million very soon in revenue and then I want to, my whole like 10, I don't have a plan in 10, 15, 20 years or anything. I just know that I want a massive house with a swimming pool that my family can come to and have a swim. That's there. And then the other part is I want to.

start thinking almost like the business is five now and it's almost like my lifestyle has given, I've almost sacrificed a little bit of my young life to enable the growth of this business. Like my pals went to union, they had parties every week and it's like I was working then. But it's a case of.

Now I'm starting to think a little bit about there is a business case of us having an office in Australia. I see a full reason as to why the time zones could really benefit us. And also the lifestyle over there is beautiful. So I'd love an option to be able to do like a hybrid kind of summer here, summer there type of thing. Yeah, for a whole week. Yeah, Sydney, I back last week and it blew me mind. So yeah, think more of it is more of it is just being comfortable with the season of life, if that makes sense. So like...

Sarah Poynton (34:00.031)
Because you were there recently weren't you? were in... yeah.

Sam Teale (34:16.205)
I was happy for the last five years to really grind and I still am. I'm not saying I don't want to do that, but that's a little bit of a case of now. I'm thinking about how can I be more comfortable? What can I do that will really make me happy? Australia is that, but then in the future it will be being a provider on a big scale back home. yeah, don't have a vision board in relation to this is a car that I want or anything like that. I just know that I want to be able to...

whatever I want at the time, I to be able to get myself and get people around me. So yeah, I don't put too much energy on that apart from the fact that I want to keep growing this to be the biggest, best production company in the whole world. And then like I said earlier, what comes with that will be incredible stuff. But I also think there's like similar to too many cooks in the kitchen or there can be too many things that you want or too many folks to have at one time and then it becomes a little bit diluted. My focus on if I do a good job here, then the fruits will come.

Sarah Poynton (35:04.093)
Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (35:11.784)
consequence of doing a good job, right? 100%. So would you say that where you are now in your life, do you trust yourself with big chunks of money?

Sam Teale (35:23.191)
I so. I think so because I look at like we've got the most in our bank account as a business than we ever have before and we've consistently gone up this year which is fantastic. So I'm very glad that I've not used that as an excuse to go anywhere else. Yeah, yeah. You know, so to that question, yeah, I do. And I think there is times, well, there is times as well where I allow myself to be a little bit younger. So there's a...

Sarah Poynton (35:40.264)
go wild.

Sam Teale (35:52.643)
a purchase I made last month, which at the time felt that I needed to make it quite spendy. And then this month I'm looking at like the profit and loss from last month. I'm like, that number could be higher if I decided not to spend on that thing. It was a thing for the business. weren't like, it weren't like an expensive piece of clothing or something, but that.

Sarah Poynton (36:06.973)
But that's like an investment, right? So it's not necessarily spending, it's investing back in the company.

Sam Teale (36:13.262)
Yes, yeah, yeah, but it's like it's like one of those where I know I was very biased at the time towards a decision It weren't a fair job. I'm trying like if if I had the information available to me now that I had then maybe I would have decided not to but it's yeah, so but but again like I think allowing myself to make mistakes is somehow like I remember when I sent the money I'm like it doesn't work out then I just won't do it again like And it's like I won't do it again and that's a much stronger position to be in than someone telling you

Sarah Poynton (36:22.566)
Yeah, yeah,

Sarah Poynton (36:38.173)
Yeah.

Sam Teale (36:42.616)
Sarah don't do that because it's a case of like, we're humans, we need to learn from our mistakes. And also learning from our mistakes is the strongest way for us to actively learn. I always said when I was a kid, like, if you said to me, format an SD card before you've backed up the footage, so delete all the footage, I'd said, of course. And there times when I was a kid where I'd do a shoot for a client and then accidentally format the card instead of copying the card over. And it's like, right, I've just wasted a whole day of everyone's time filming and no one will ever see the results of it.

Sarah Poynton (36:47.293)
Yeah, yeah, 100%.

Sam Teale (37:12.174)
But I did that once, never did it again. Point is that like, that type of learning I think is very important and I like to allow myself to do that because everyone knows themselves better than anyone else knows themselves. I know my best way of learning is by, just don't do it again, mate. Fine, I will.

Sarah Poynton (37:21.746)
Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (37:25.949)
Just be better than this time next time. So, okay, so Do you think that there's any? Lies that we're told about money that have impacted You and the way you see money approach money make decisions with money

Sam Teale (37:29.028)
Yeah, exactly.

Sam Teale (37:45.809)
Interesting. think, well going back to my childhood, well, no, I think money is this nasty thing. And I think that no one really speaks about it. What is interesting is we was in, to America a few times this year, shot in Hollywood in Los Angeles. And it was so interesting. It was, it was Danny, actually, Danny Wallace. And she did a pitch from stage. I saw her do it in Manchester when we were filming and I saw her do it.

Sarah Poynton (38:09.863)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (38:14.936)
in LA and the reaction in Manchester when she mentions money it was like everyone's head goes down a little bit and no one wants to speak about it. In LA she put like the prices on the screen and everyone jumped up and like supported her and what's interesting is like the American dream mindset of how they speak about money is this positive thing and almost they're not worried about how they'll be portrayed or how you'll how they'll feel compared to us over here where we're very guarded we won't speak about it we're so worried about what other people will think and that's and that then doesn't help

Sarah Poynton (38:39.281)
Yeah.

Sam Teale (38:44.086)
Education so my dad for example is a great example. I love my dad is great right, but I remember asking him and like how much money do you make a month? And he's like he'll never tell me that I still don't know now But my reason for asking that is I'm trying to build evidence up to this is the lifestyle that you live on this amount of money So then I can have targets for my future, but I still don't have I still don't have a guideline I still don't know what what?

the money that he brings in, how that impacts the house and family, because I don't know what that number is, because it's such a protected thing that, and that, but I think it's a societal issue that is quite big. And I think, I genuinely do think, right, if everyone was more open, if teachers were more open about what they were paid, I think if everyone were, and it was almost like when you're a kid at school, you're almost driving or walking to school and on everyone's backs were like the amount of annual money they get a year, not that that would ever happen.

That for the thought of thinking bigger and understanding how your choices in life can affect your future is so important. And I'm not saying money is everything, but I'm saying that a lot of young people do have money as a driver, but don't then know where to go or how to get the money that they're after because we've not taught them the best industries to get into or the best jobs to have or anything like that, which is just crazy. It's like this horrible thing where you're to fight, trying to walk through a forest and just guess and just maybe this is the right thing or maybe this is, and it's just...

Sarah Poynton (39:38.589)
I

Sam Teale (40:04.622)
You don't know until you know, and that's why, and that's also, think, why as well, this is getting really deep now. Maybe this is not the case. I'm making jumps, but a lot of young people now, not my guys, because we have such a great place to work, but my generation of people, this thing about jumping jobs and like every year moving to a different thing. And I think that then goes back to exactly what I just mentioned about the potential of, this job may be higher to get me to where I want to be in my life here, but then them allowing themselves to hop much faster than we used to do.

Sarah Poynton (40:20.263)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (40:34.276)
back in the olden days. So olden days, that makes everyone sound old. Yeah, that's what I rambled there, but that's my thoughts.

Sarah Poynton (40:37.801)
I'm not sure you'd qualify to be able to use that, Sam, actually.

Sarah Poynton (40:45.565)
So I think it's really interesting and know that the way we approach money in Britain for sure is very different to other parts of the world. know, like I spend a lot of time on Ibiza, I've been to LA as well. So I've experienced LA and how they are with money there. And obviously I spend a lot of time with clients in the UK and other parts of the world. And I talk about money. The reason I wrote the book is because nobody's having this conversation. Nobody's talking about.

how money really works and how people with not a lot of money can have a life with a lot of money with some very simple changes. And you know, that question that's really interesting. So like, I bet if I asked like my nan and granddad when I was younger, like how much money do you actually earn? I don't think they'd have ever told me because there was this, there is this taboo around how you can't ask for it. I remember being in my recruitment job in like 2000 and like nine, 2010 maybe.

I remember asking someone in the office how much they were paid, what their wages were compared to mine. And my boss pulled me in the office and was like, you can't ask that. I was like, what do you mean? They were like, it's a disciplinary if you ask people what they earn. And I was like, what do you mean? Why can't I know that? Because I wanted a benchmark. In my mind, they were really successful. They were really established. They had a great desk. They were billing loads of money. And I was like, well, if I ask them how much they're earning, if I do that, that's how much I'll earn. And it gave me a pathway to follow.

Sam Teale (42:00.43)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Sarah Poynton (42:11.196)
But I wasn't allowed. was pulled in the office, dragged over the coals and told you're never allowed to ask that question. And we have to get more comfortable talking about it.

Sam Teale (42:19.642)
But then this is what interesting as well with me and I was, I went traveling in January and I literally got back and I was on a panel of creatives in Leeds and there was a guy who put his hand up and he was American and he was like, could you tell me how much money your average job is? Because I'm building a production company here. And I kind of did the...

the politicians answer, because I'm similar. It's like I'm talking about the societal issue, but I'm not helping. But then his feedback was interesting. He's like in America, he'd put his hand up and say, what do you charge? And be open and honest, not worried about our, we're all got a scarcity mindset. I think that, you going to take this job or if you're going to undercut me or whatever. And that's in business, not even personal finance, but like it's inspiring to know that.

with his other places, maybe everywhere else, bar us, which don't come from that scarcity mindset and come from the, like, wouldn't it be great if that guy went, I'm on this amount of money, 70 grand a year, and then you go back and your boss is like, that's now, that's your carrot, like, chase that. The increase in motivation that that would have for you would have been massive, but then it's the scarcity mindset of, well, we might have had to offer him that job, more money on a separate pathway that no one else can be part of.

Sarah Poynton (43:14.96)
Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (43:26.703)
Mm-hmm.

Sam Teale (43:37.612)
It all goes back to scarcity mindset, not going back to the possibility of what if that information makes you then build more than that other guy and makes the company win even more. It's just, yeah, it's crazy.

Sarah Poynton (43:43.195)
Yeah.

So with that in mind, do you, also knowing your background, knowing obviously the message you will have had from your parents growing up, the way society is in the place that you grew up, are you actively trying to change that, that like processing of money and conversation, things like that, in the environments that you're in? So in your office, with your friends, if you ever have kids, like, is that something you're actively making sure that you don't?

follow the pattern or do you forget?

Sam Teale (44:16.624)
Yeah, yeah, so I am no no no, so I am I am I am trying to change it's what I said earlier about The figures in the office are so clear for everyone to see they can see what turnover looks like and then they can look at what leaves tracker looks like in relation to the jobs we've won and that's so important for them to then realize how if we win they'll end up winning as well in relation to wages and stuff second part is Them I get people say honestly to me sometimes they pull me aside and say Sam

You talk about having a young team, that's because you can pay them less, right? And I'm like, what do you take me for? These guys are all on like industry standard wages. The only differentiating factor is they are younger, which I think qualifies them more for the content that they create because they watch it every single day. Yeah, and then the other part of it is when I go to schools and stuff, again, it happened last week, I do a talk at a school. I say any questions, a kid puts his hand up because, you rich? That's the question.

Sarah Poynton (45:00.368)
Yeah, yeah, because, yeah.

Sam Teale (45:17.188)
Then I've got teachers looking at me and I'll get a bit imposter syndrome. like, don't want to... So my default reply is, I've got 11 wages to pay every single month. Like do that what you will. Not necessarily my personal wealth, but looking at the success of the business, whatever. But yeah, again, that's interesting. I could do a better job.

Sarah Poynton (45:36.112)
Why don't you just say, why don't you answer like, well, I own this.

Sam Teale (45:43.493)
Because I'm worried, I'm then worried, right? This is what's interesting then. I'm worried about the teachers who look at me with that look on the face that I'm sure they would have of, how dare he? Or how dare he be younger than me and earn that? Or also, but he's just pulled the veil now of all these year sevens that now they then feel they can ask this to anyone else, which they should do. But I don't want to cause them rubbish, what mean? But that's, yeah, we need a big reset. I don't want to be the guy in a lesson with...

Sarah Poynton (46:03.036)
They should do.

Sam Teale (46:13.36)
for teachers looking down at me at end and go, because I'm a very like, I take stuff very personally as well. If a teacher didn't talk to me afterwards because I've outward the amount of money that I pay myself, I'd be worried.

Sarah Poynton (46:24.368)
Fair enough. That's fair enough. Sam, pause there for two seconds because my dog's just started barking at no reason. So give me two seconds to go and just sort her out. I'll cut this bit out. Give me two seconds.

Sam Teale (46:32.036)
Do it.

Fine, fine, sorry.

Sarah Poynton (46:38.982)
Ciao!

to go to sleep. Just go down.

Sam Teale (46:59.62)
Sorry, I'm back.

Sarah Poynton (47:00.316)
Okay, that's right. So I could chat to you about this for ages, but we're running out of time. So I'm wrap up with what we do at the end of every episode is we ask our guests to leave a question for our next guest and then we ask you the question. So the question that was left for you is how would you like to be remembered?

Sam Teale (47:24.738)
Wow, deep. Someone who makes every room better when they've left it than they found it. it's so, it's so, it's so the same as everyone else, but to make the world a better place, but zooming into that is Mick.

Sarah Poynton (47:26.673)
Yeah.

Sam Teale (47:46.199)
give young people opportunities to therefore then change the perception of young people generally. always talk about the news always says young people vape, the stab people, whatever, but I've got a team in there of incredible people that are all young, but absolutely incredible. And they just show what happens when you've got someone who believes in them and they've got, and they're given an opportunity. That's the two things that young people need to thrive. And then finally, I'd say

Sarah Poynton (47:55.644)
Readable people.

Sam Teale (48:13.488)
In relation to the content that we produce, really quickly, we made an advert in 2022. It got 40 million views. It was bigger than John Lewis. It was our own thing, tiny budget. And it was about the cost of living crisis, strangely, talking about money. And we showed the impact that it had on a dad who was breaking down because he couldn't get his son a Christmas present. That got 40 million views and was bigger than John Lewis. And the comments on the advert, even now, that's still coming in now.

People say how they've changed how they're celebrating Christmas because of the issue that we've showcased So people in there that were like I'm buying my kid Something half expensive as half as expensive as I was planning to because I'm gonna don't done it the rest of charity I've watched this video and I'm now gonna buy myself by myself 500 pounds worth of gifts to give to my local community like we created something that made people change how they behave that is the power of video content we Showcase that in a perfect way and therefore made the world a better place so that made the world a better place But with my little niches, I've just mentioned

Sarah Poynton (49:00.879)
Yeah.

Sarah Poynton (49:07.619)
I love it. Thank you so much for that. And then what question would you like to leave for our next guest?

Sam Teale (49:15.92)
Great question. What did you want to be when you were older? Like what was when you were a kid? Yeah, yeah, because I think that's interesting and how that question relates to money and all that sort of stuff is interesting. So yeah, what did you want to be when you were older?

Sarah Poynton (49:24.379)
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? Amazing.

Sarah Poynton (49:32.377)
Yeah, I will ask that. Amazing. Sam, thank you so much. If people want to get in touch with you to connect with you on socials or work with you in any way, what's the best way for people to link up with you?

Sam Teale (49:42.288)
Just type Sam teal te le into any social media platform Instagram probably the best one if you want to work with those Some to your productions just google it and we've got on a call But yeah, I am if you want like good content that is not boring made by an incredible team These are with the best people to speak to but thank you Sarah. I'm so thankful to have been here and we've had a great conversation I appreciate it. Thank you and

Sarah Poynton (50:03.247)
You're it.

Sarah Poynton (50:09.807)
Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.

Sam Teale (50:10.692)
Were I officially the youngest person on your podcast? I been the youngest person? Thank you. I want a certificate please that says that. Thank you.

Sarah Poynton (50:14.14)
At this point, yeah, you are. Congratulations. Send you a sticker. I tell you what I would like to do is I'll send you a copy of my book because I think actually it would benefit you reading it. I'll get you, yeah, I'll go and send it out to you. No worries. Thanks so much, Sam. I will catch you later. See ya.

Sam Teale (50:23.894)
Yes, please. Could you do that, please? Thank you.

Sam Teale (50:30.577)
See you soon.